Dealership Case Study: Herb Doolan

Posted on March 16, 2017

“Hi my name is Herb Doolan and I opened the first dealership for Ever Clean Gutter System 15 years ago.

Twenty five years ago I started out my career in the waterproofing industry. My job was to go to homes and estimate repairs on foundations and determine what repairs where necessary. Example they would have water coming in the basements, cracks in the wall and floors, settlement in sections of the foundations, mold, mildew and musty smells. The homeowner wanted their space back. I worked doing this for about 12 years and evaluated about 10,000 homes, I realized without a doubt what was causing the damage.

I came to the conclusion after many years of overflowing gutters, that was the problem source. So I would tell the homeowners they needed to clean out their gutters more often. I also realize that they would not, for some it was too dangerous or too costly to maintain. So we waterproof their basement by busting open there floor to install pipe and gravel to a sump pump in order to remove the gutter water.

At that time, this was the only way of preventing water from coming in, but what we were doing was actually doing more structural damage to the foundation by drawing the water under the footer to the drains & sump pump causing undermining and settlement which then creates more cracks and movement in the foundation.

This is when I started investigating some types of gutter toppers, to allow the water in all the time without maintenance from the homeowner. but all I could find needed maintenance; example, screens had to be cleaned or they overflowed, then there were hoods that damaged the roof shingles and clogged in the opening, and then I found one piece gutter systems that also clogged.

Then I started to do my research to find a gutter product that would always catch the water and keep the debris out, never to clog up an allow no maintenance to the homeowner. It was strange to me that this product did not yet exists. So one night by chance I went out to dinner with a friend at the Outback Restaurant. He also was in construction industry. We started talking about gutter products. I explained to him about my search for a gutter system, and wondered if he knew about any such product. His answer was no he did not. That’s when I looked at him and said “Dale, if someone would call me this minute”… and said “Herb, I have the product you want, I would go in business with him right now”.

Within 30 seconds of my statement my cell phone rang, I answered it on speaker phone and the call went like this; “Is this Herb Doolan” – “I said yes.” “You don’t know me my name it Russell Brown I live in Lexington Kentucky, your name was given to me from a friend that knows you. I was looking for someone who would be interested in opening a gutter company in Cincinnati Ohio. I have invented a gutter system and preparing to patent it. My question to you would be are you interested in opening a dealership in Cincinnati Ohio.”

I looked at Dale my friend and his jaw dropped, I then looked up to God and said Thanks and Yes. I knew then that this was my direction in life. I met with Russ a couple days later, within a couple of months opened Cincinnati Ever Clean Gutter System in 2004, and been a proud owner since. I finally found the product that would help homeowners protect their foundation and be maintenance free.

If you would decide to open a dealership, this is a product that works, most gutter products come and go, in my 10 years as owner, I recommend this system, to anyone who has sales and construction experience. In my opinion; for a company to prosper you must keep the Customer, Employees and the Company happy – this product does just that!